Pirate Bay website sinks as 'sell out' accusations fly

'Where's the thanks?' asks a perplexed BrokeP

The Pirate Bay is currently out of action, hours after the site announced it was selling itself to a Swedish software firm.

The BitTorrent tracker site's little lie down sparked speculation that is owners had pulled the plug on the operation already. But the latest Twitter update from co-founder Peter Sunde, aka BrokeP, claims that a DDoS attack is in fact the culprit.

Swedish software firm Global Gaming Factory X AB released a statement this morning in which it confirmed it was in the process of acquiring The Pirate Bay for $7.8m.

Many users of the site have hit out at the site’s four co-founders, who were handed jail terms and hefty fines in April this year after the men were found guilty in a Swedish court of being accessories to breaching copyright laws.

Unsurprisingly, sell out accusations are currently flooding the interwebulator.

Earlier today no one was able to access The Pirate Bay - sparking speculation that the site's owners had responded swiftly to GGF's proposed buyout, while others wondered if it simply collapsed under the weight of all the attention garnered since this morning’s announcement.

BrokeP, who is TPB’s most vocal spokesman, has been defending the “sell out” decision.

He has characteristically set up camp via his Twitter feed to take a swipe at anyone who slings criticism his way.

“We've been asking people to open more trackers, nothing happens. We've been fighting for five years. Where's the thanks?”, pondered BrokeP.

“People hate me now for wanting to pause the 6 year free work we've been doing. Feels unfair,” he added in a later tweet. ®